THE FINAL STRAW || 13 Reasons Why

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CLEO OPENED THE MAIL AND PICKED UP A LETTER, SHE RAN to her room and opened it, she let out a sigh when her sight fell on it. YOU'RE WARNED. Of course that's how it would be, she was the only one in the room with Jessica that night, not sure if the person knows about it or not but those threats were outrageous.

Cleo angrily threw the paper away, she had been receiving those for days and it didn't seem to be stopping, after what Bryce did to them, it seems that the person sending the threats was desperate to keep him out of jail

When she got out of her room, her dad was talking to Clay, the boy walked in the bathroom, Cleo watched her dad stand in front of the bathroom, she walked past him and walked down the stairs, taking a coffee before going back to her room.

When she heard the shower stop, she got out of her room and walked into Clay's, throwing pills to Justin.

 Clay immediately got up "Why do you have that?" he asked

"He's got a fever" Cleo answered, she didn't let Clay finish and closed the door.

It was Ryan's turn to testify, when she walked into school, Tyler and Cirus walked past her with T-Shirt annotated ASSHOLES. The color was kind of ironic since it was the same color as shit.

 Mr. Porter stopped behind them "Mr. Down" he called, the boys turned around "My office, now" he said, Tyler shot a glance at his friend before following Mr. Porter, it was either about the shirt or the pictures of Jessica on the wall.

After class Cleo noticed Jessica and Alex in the hallway, she walked up to them "Your parents weren't pissed about yesterday?" she asked

"No" the girl answered "They were disappointed"

Alex let out a sigh "Disappointed, i hate that shit"

Jessica intervened "Plus they want me to go to group therapy, talk to someone" 

"You can always talk to us" Cleo said

"That's what i said"

Alex paused "I listened to the tapes" he revealed, the two girls stopped in the hallway "Clay finally gave them to me"

Jessica was the first one to say something "Are you okay?" she asked

Alex shrugged with one shoulder in response "Yeah" he answered "Are you?" he asked "You never told me the whole story about Bryce"

"If i wanted to talk about it i'd go to stupid group therapy, i don't even know the whole story myself, i don't remember all of it"

"I do" Cleo intervened 

Jessica shot Alex a look "You told me you didn't have a lot of memories about that night" she said

Cleo nodded "I remember now, he walked in-"

"No, stop" Jessica said "Don't, not here"

Cleo nodded "I gotta get to class" she said as she walked away from the teens, she stopped in the middle of the hallway when the mention of name caught her attention.

"Apparently, Justin's back" 

Cleo froze, they knew about him which means someone saw Justin, which means that he left the house, she snapped out of her thoughts when a voice called out to her. "Mrs. Jensen, can i see you in my office" he said, Cleo let out a sigh and followed him.

"Did you know about Justin's return?" he asked after a bunch of small talk "I know news travel fast in these halls"

Cleo shifted uncomfortably under his eyes "What about it?" she asked 

Mr. Porter joined his hands which made him look more like a typical counselor "Do you have any idea of who might know where he's staying?" he asked, Cleo rolled her eyes at the question "He needs help too, he should be enrolled in school, the only adresse i have is his dad in Sacramento." 

Cleo let out a sigh "I don't know where he is" she answered "Can i go?"

"Look, Cleo i'll be honest" Mr. Porter started "I know what it's like to have to be strong and keep your problems all to you but it does not work, talk to someone" he said

"Can i go?" Cleo asked, when the man nodded she got up and walked out of the room

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When she got back home, Cleo could see Clay and Sheri in the front door, she rushed to them, the two teens turned when she arrived "Somebody saw Justin" she said "The whole school is talking about it now"

"What?" 

"Mr. Porter called me to his office and i think he knows something" she added "We gotta be more careful"

Clay shot a look at Sheri "Oh shit" he mumbled 

Sheri let out a sigh "Well, i should probably go" she said before walking out of the house

Clay shot a look at his sister as he immediately rushed upstairs, he slowly opened the door "When were you gonna tell me someone saw you?" he asked

Justin shot a glare at him "When were you gonna tell me about Jess?" he asked, when Clay didn't answer he continued "I talked to Tony, she doesn't want me here does she?"

"It's complicated" Clay said as he sat beside him

"You lied to me" Justin said

"No it's the truth, Jessica doesn't realize it yet" Clay said, earning a scoff from Justin "She'll change her mind, you just have to get sober and she'll see it"

Justin narrowed his eyes at him "Fuck that" he said as angrily pulled his bag towards him and started to gather his stuff "You're wasting my time" he added

Seeing him determined to leave, Clay nervously bring a hand to his face "She kept your post card" he said, Justin froze at these words, seeing the effect it had on him Clay continued "That's how we found you" he said "She kept it, Justin. 'Nancy i'll always love you. Sid' why would she keep that?"

Clay knew what he was doing, manipulating Justin, he didn't only want justice for Hannah and Jessica, Bryce touched his sister, his family, he wouldn't let him get away with this. Justin softened his tone "I really did loved her" he said "And i really care about Cleo"

"So, stay and help them lock Bryce away" Clay said as he put a hand on the boy's shoulder "Help me get justice for my sister, for Hannah and Jessica and every other girl he assaulted"

Cleo stood behind the door, listening to the conversation, she let a smile stretch across her face, Clay cared, maybe he had a selfish kind of caring but he cared. She tiptoed to her room and closed the door behind her. She had to fight too, for Hannah and Jessica and for every other girl who was to afraid to speak up, she was gonna do everything in her power to lock Bryce away.

So that's why she walked out of her room again and walked to her parent's room, she knocked on the door, it didn't take long for her mom to open the door.

"Cleo? What is it?" she asked

Cleo let out a heavy sigh "I need to tell you something"

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